1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ink-jet recording apparatuses recording images on sheet materials, in particular, to an ink-jet recording apparatus capable of recording images on both sides of a sheet material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an ink-jet recording apparatus, when images are recorded on a sheet material or a sheet, the sheet and the recording section are set to face each other. Then, it is required to adjust the gap between the sheet and the recording portion with a high accuracy. This is because an increased error in the gap between the sheet and the recording portion will inevitably degrade the quality of the images recorded on the sheet. Such kind of error in the gap between the sheet and the recording portion occurs because, in the main, the sheet warps and floats from a support member supporting the sheet.
Thus, there have been known ink-jet recording apparatuses which hold down the sheet from above at a plurality of places in a width direction to set the sheet into an undulant state so as to diminish the float of the sheet from the support member at the time of recording images on the sheet.
Such an ink-jet recording apparatus includes a platen of which upper surface is formed with alternated ribs and recesses along a sheet width direction, and a sheet material holding plate provided to face the recesses to hold down the sheet. The sheet is supported by the ribs at the positions with the ribs, and held down by the sheet material holding plate at the positions without the ribs. By virtue of this, the sheet is in an undulant state along the width direction, and thereby it is possible to reduce the warpage of sheet as a whole. As a result, this diminishes the float of the sheet from the support member, and thus it is possible to reduce the quality degradation in the images recorded on the sheet.
Further, conventionally, ink-jet recording apparatuses have been known to be capable of recording images on both sides of a sheet. In such an ink-jet recording apparatus, a resupply transport path is formed other than a main transport path transporting the sheet from a tray loading the sheet through a recording section recording images on the sheet to a discharge port. The resupply transport path serves to transport the sheet transported to the downstream side of the recording section with images recorded on its front side by the recording section, back to the upstream side of the recording section in the main transport path. The sheet transported through the resupply transport path arrives at the recording section with its back side facing the recording section. By virtue of this, the recording section is able to record images on the back side of the sheet.
Further, because there is only a limited inner space of the ink-jet recording apparatus to form the transport path and the resupply transport path, the transport path and the resupply transport path are often curved in this inner space. That is, at least parts of the transport path and the resupply transport path are often configured to be curved paths.